Healthy Dinner Recipe

Dinner is the meal of the day which needs special attention from the cook. If you can eat the same soup or the same main dish at lunch for two-three days in a row with slight variations of the spices and of the side dishes, it’s definitely not cool to have the same thing for dinner for two consecutive evenings. This is one of the reasons why quick dinner recipes are very much appreciated. This is one of the healthy recipes that can be cooked in as little as 10-15 minutes if you have the proper kitchen utensils and some basic cooking skills.

Grilled chicken breast with sauted yellow beans and garlic

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 big chicken breast, boneless, skinless, divided in 8 slices (approximately 1/2 inch thick)
• 1 package frozen yellow beans (200 g)
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced small
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking instructions:

Grilling the chicken breast:

Gently beat the chicken pieces until they become flat, but take care not to hit them too hard, because chicken breast is fragile and tender anyway and it may rip apart of you are too zealous. Sprinkle salt, curry powder and dried thyme on both surfaces of the meat slices. Heat the grill (optionally, you can oil it a little, even if it’s non-sticky – this trick reduces the amount of smoke, so it’s a good idea if you want to use the grill indoors). Place as many meat slices as you can fit on the grill, making sure they don’t touch or overlap. If the grill was preheated well, cooking should last only 3-4 minutes for each side.

Sauteing the yellow beans and the garlic:

Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and cook it for 2-3 minutes, until it starts to brown. Then add the yellow beans, salt them and cook at medium fire, making sure to stir frequently. Optionally, you can add about 1/4 cup of water, if you don’t want the oil to become too hot. The skillet should be large enough to allow the yellow beans to fit on a single layer, like you see in the picture below. I used 1/4 of the specified quantity, because I cooked for only one person, namely myself.

For yellow beans the size you see in my photo, it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes until they are done. If you overcook them, they’d become too soft. The cooking time is up to you. I prefer vegetables not completely done, because I like them to be a bit crispy.

When you’re done, put two pieces of grilled chicken breast on each plate, add the sauted yellow beans with garlic, sprinkle everything with freshly ground pepper and enjoy.

This is a healthy and quick recipe, which can be tweaked according to your preferences: you can use other spices, you can use butter instead of olive oil or you can use no fat at all. Regarding the preparation and cooking time, you can have everything ready in about 15 minutes, provided that you grill the chicken and saute the vegetables simultaneously. If you have to do one operation at a time, it will take you double.